How to: Style guides for blog posts
This post has been written by the lovely Sian Smith from Sian Smith Editorial
Sian Smith - Sian Smith Editorial
Photo courtesy of Sian Smith Editorial
What is a style guide and why does it matter?
You’ve chosen your brand colours right down to the specific Pantone code. You know which fonts are ‘yours’ on social media. You’re happy with the voice you use when you write. But do you have a style guide for your writing?
A style guide for written content details all aspects of English language that applies to your services and brand, so that your writing style is consistent and sounds like you. This means, for example, deciding whether you write ‘mum’ or ‘mom’ and if you’re interested in ‘well-being’ or ‘wellbeing’. It also includes uses of punctuation, such as the Oxford comma (I love apples, oranges, and chocolate), date format (my favourite date is 25 April), and spelling preferences (do you recognise or recognize?).
As a proofreader, looking out for this sort of thing comes naturally to me. All proofreaders and editors are trained to create or adhere to style guides and look out for inconsistencies. If you’re not going to use a proofreading service, however, creating your own style guide can help you spot these inconsistencies yourself. When you don’t have a style guide to follow, you end up using a mixture of grammar and spelling variations, which becomes distracting when reading. Your audience won’t be able to pinpoint exactly why something is ‘off’ in the text, but their reading experience will become disjointed.
Plus, if you ever expand your team or welcome a new recruit, the debrief for the writing style will be much easier if you have a style guide to hand over to them.
Tips for creating a style guide
Choose your dictionary
If you don’t have time to create a template with your preferred spellings, etc, make sure you use the same online dictionary each time you create and check your written content. Most UK proofreaders use the Oxford Dictionary, but I find the Cambridge online dictionary is more user-friendly. Merriam-Webster is the top choice in the USA. It doesn’t really matter which one you use, but it does matter that you use the same one each time.
For example, the Cambridge Dictionary uses ‘heartwarming’ whereas the Oxford Dictionary prefers ‘heart-warming’. Both are perfectly acceptable, but using a hyphen in one sentence and then foregoing it in the next would look odd.
2. Remember your personal preferences
You can ignore the dictionary when it comes to the way YOU speak. If you refer to your parents as ‘Mam and Dad’, add that to your style guide. UK English stipulates we don’t use the past form of ‘gotten’, but if that’s how you speak, make sure it says so in your style guide!
3. Keep adding to your style guide
Your style guide is a living document; you should add to it as you go. You can start by compiling a list of the words you know you’re going to use frequently (eg if you work in wellbeing, decide if it’s ‘wellbeing’ or ‘well-being’) but make sure you look out for any other words that need to be included. This should include other company or brand names you refer to (did you know ‘parkrun’ is always spelt with a lowercase ‘p’?).
4. Organise your style guide
The easiest way is by A–Z, but with separate sections for punctuation, general spelling preferences (-ise vs -ize, co-ordinate vs coordinate), date and time display, numeral preference (will you just always use numbers or will you use words up to ten, twenty, or ninety-nine?). Don’t get too hung up on it, though, you can just stick to A–Z to start with.
5. Check your Microsoft Word language preference
If, like me, you write all your content in Microsoft Word, make sure your language setting preference is ‘English (United Kingdom)’ if your majority audience is in the UK. Even though I click on the ‘set as default’, sometimes Word forgets this option, so once I’ve started writing, I tend to select all and change it back to UK English:
Creating and using a style guide for your written content makes proofreading your own work much easier. A bonus tip for proofreading your own work is to read the content aloud – you’ll be surprised how many errors you spot this way! (Word has a Read Aloud function if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself.)
Have a go at creating your style guide and let me know how you get on! If you don’t feel confident about your English skills, please check out the language tips I share on my social media (Instagram or Facebook). I also provide proofreading services for businesses, as either a one-off or ongoing service, which includes content like blog posts, social media, newsletters, workbooks, etc – just email me if that sounds like something you could benefit from.